Sometimes it takes little more than being in the right place at the right time to document history. So it was for photographer Martha Cooper in the early 70s, when she began taking pictures of the graffiti on New York’s subway cars and taglines on the walls.

Almost 40 years later, graffiti has more or less morphed from a pastime of ‘degenerate’ youth to a veritable art form, its influence seen throughout the art, fashion and design worlds. Starting this week at Gallerie Bailly in Paris, curator Hélène Bailly showcases a selection of Cooper’s photographs alongside thirteen, primarily French, artists who have either photographed graffiti, tagged something or have been influenced by it.

Other artists on display include L’Atlas, who has taken graffiti to express ideas both political and indelible, questioning culture in contemporary France and, Darco, one of Europe’s first great graffiti artists. A nice counterpoint to the New York-based images of the art form, “Taguer n’est pas Jouer” shows how graffiti inspires and is reinterpreted globally in addition to offering a slice of other street cultures.

Through May 24, Check it out.

Taguer n’est pas Jouer
Galerie Bailly
25 Quai Voltaire
Paris 75007

For more information on the show, click here.